Writing Back / Reading Forward: Reconsidering the Postcolonial Approach

Predicated upon the opposition of writing back and reading forward, the author challenges some of the established concerns or preoccupations of the field. Postcolonial theory, framed by several binary assumptions, e.g. the dichotomy of coloniser/colonised, perpetrator/victim, powerful/powerless, has frequently led to a partial vision regarding postcolonial subjects as well as literatures. By submitting six selected novels from India, South Africa and the Caribbean to contrastive readings, the book maps out the scope of literary interpretation, also and in particular in a postcolonial context. More than simply providing a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of each text, this study challenges both the benefits and limits of the postcolonial as a critical theoretical approach.